de of het schoeisel?
het schoeisel
shoewear
noun · /ˈsxui̯.səl/
It is “het schoeisel”. The plural is “de schoeisels”, and like every Dutch plural it takes “de”.
Pronunciation, example sentences and the rest of the entry: schoeisel
Forms
- Article
- het schoeisel
- Plural
- de schoeisels
- Diminutive
- het schoeiseltje
- Also means
- footwear
- How common
- in everyday Dutch
In a sentence
Dit is geschikt schoeisel voor de bergen.
This is suitable footwear for the mountains.
Laat je schoeisel bij de deur.
Leave your footwear by the door.
Geen schoeisel op de mat.
No footwear on the mat.
Why this article
No rule predicts it
This one has to be memorised. No spelling pattern marks it as neuter, which is exactly why it is worth learning as “het schoeisel” rather than as “schoeisel” on its own.
The rules that do work
- • Every plural takes “de”, without exception.
- • Every diminutive ending in -je takes “het”, without exception.
- • Nouns ending in -ing, -heid, -tie, -teit or -schap take “de”.
- • Roughly two thirds of all nouns take “de”, so it is the better guess.
Other nouns whose article has to be memorised
Stop guessing de and het
Woordje has a practice mode for exactly this: it shows a noun and asks for the article, and keeps asking until you stop getting it wrong.